


I'll Always Have You

by Gorgeous_Girl_Genius



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Abuse, Abusive Relationships, Angst, Blackmail, Coming Out, Confrontations, Crying, Dom/sub, F/F, Face Slapping, Gen, Heavy Angst, Holding Hands, Hurt No Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mean girls Au, Unreliable Narrator
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-01
Updated: 2019-01-04
Packaged: 2019-10-02 00:09:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,372
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17253944
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gorgeous_Girl_Genius/pseuds/Gorgeous_Girl_Genius
Summary: Popular girl Junko Enoshima runs the school. It's Tsumugi Shirogane's job to bring her all the fun secrets from the student body so she can use them to bring despair. When Tsumugi discovers Shuichi's secret, Kaede, lucky enough to have found a very particular note, creates a plan to stop her from sharing it with Junko and enacts it behind Shuichi's back. With both blackmail an offer of friendship on the table, will Tsumugi keep Shuichi's secret? Will she abandon her position as secret keeper for Junko entirely?





	1. Blackmail

**Author's Note:**

> This is inspired by [this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kA8Q4Sl3bhI), but is only loosely based on it in that Tsumugi and Junko's relationship works like this. The actual tone of the story ended up much darker and more serious than this video, but I absolutely have to credit it for making me fall in love with the idea of the Junko/Tsumugi relationship dynamic that forms the backdrop of the events!

“Kaede,” Shuichi pulled his knees to his chest, hands clinging tightly to the fabric of his pants, “I have something I need to tell you.”

Kaede’s heart dropped. Shuichi was curling up, making himself as small as possible. That was always a sign something was wrong, and to walk out of class at the end of the day and find him slumped against the wall, mumbling into his knees like this had to mean it was worse than usual. What could he have to say that would make him this anxious?

“Okay,” Kaede's voice was quiet and gentle as she slid down the wall to sit beside him, looking seriously at his face. “You can tell me anything, Shuichi. What is it?”

“Well, first,” Shuichi swallowed, tilting his head so far down that his face nearly touched his knees, the top of his dark blue hair getting caught and spilling over them before mumbling. “I’m gay.”

Kaede blinked. She’d always sort of suspected as much, but she hadn't said anything. She had wanted him to let her know on his own terms, but now that he had, she was worried; she'd expected that when he was ready to tell her, it'd be a happy moment for him, but instead, his eyes threatened to spill over with tears at any second. Was he actually that convinced that she would reject him? Regardless of the answer, she wouldn’t let him worry for long. She reached out a hand to place over one of his, then wiggled the ends of her fingers under his palm, gently suggesting that he let go of his knees. Shuichi obliged, and Kaede placed his hand between both of her own and settled it on top of the deep purple ruffles of her skirt.

“Thank you for telling me, Shuichi. You don’t have to be worried. I support you 100%. This doesn’t change anything between us.” She squeezed his hand gently in hers as she spoke.

“Oh.” Shuichi grimaced, squeezing his eyes shut and blushing as he realized what she thought was happening. “No, that’s not… well, that’s what I thought you’d say about that. It’s just… Well, I was with Kaito today, and um….” He mumbled a bit, far too muffled to be audible, before seeming to change his mind about what he wanted to say. “Well, anyway, Tsumugi walked in on us.”

“Tsumugi…. Oh no.” Kaede bit her lip. She wouldn't press the point about what exactly they were doing. It would only embarrass him, and she understood the idea behind it. The takeaway was that Tsumugi knew Shuichi was gay, so this was an absolute disaster.

Tsumugi Shirogane, in the high school’s hierarchy, sat directly at the right hand of Junko Enoshima. Junko, of course, could be said to run the entire school, and she did so with what seemed to be the express goal of making everyone as miserable as possible. Junko seemed to have it all. Of course anyone could see that she was beautiful enough to manipulate any straight boy with the “assets” she didn’t exactly hide, but in addition to her looks, Junko was also absolutely brilliant, brilliant enough to analyze anyone and perfectly determine how to best maintain control over anyone. However, even the most brilliant mind needs a little help from time to time. And that’s where Tsumugi came in. Tsumugi spent all the time she wasn’t fawning over Junko scoping out the secrets of other students. Tsumugi had a read on every piece of gossip in the school, and if Tsumugi knew something worth knowing, Junko would know in a matter of days. And if Junko knew something, it was a sure thing that it would eventually end up used for blackmail, or perhaps shared with everyone out of sheer sadism.

“Yeah,” Tears escaped Shuichi’s eyes and slipped down cheeks as he summarized what Kaede was thinking. “Now, everyone’s gonna know. Kaede, I’m not ready.”

“Okay, okay,” Kaede took a deep breath, squeezing Shuichi's hand in hers again “Don’t worry, Shuichi, we can make a plan for this.”

“What kind of plan?” Shuichi’s voice held no hope with the question. He obviously didn’t believe there was anything they could do.

“Well, maybe there’s something we can do to convince Junko not to say anything?” Kaede suggested brightly. It wouldn’t do to let him how how truly hopeless she felt that was.

“I don’t know about that. Can she really be reasoned with like that?” Shuichi met her eyes with his. Kaede knew he was right. There was no way to reason with Junko Enoshima. But looking at Shuichi with tears still streaming down his face, she couldn’t bear to say that. It was then that she remembered something she’d found. Something small, but something that would lend itself to a plan. But would Shuichi ever agree to that sort of plan?

“Okay, then maybe we talk to Tsumugi instead. Either way, neither of them have any reason to have anything against you. I bet we could just talk this out.” Kaede suggested with a smile. Junko didn’t need a reason to out Shuichi. No more reason than that he was trying not to be out in the first place. But Shuichi was desperate, and he would latch onto any hope she could give him. She couldn’t tell him about her plan. She’d have to convince him that they could go with this one instead.

“I guess you’re right.” Shuichi smiled weakly through the tears. “We can count on it, then? If Tsumugi doesn’t tell Junko tonight, we’ll ask her not to, and if she does, we’ll talk to Junko directly?”

“Right! That’ll do it. Either way, we’ll have this fixed first thing tomorrow morning! Don't worry, I’m sure it’ll work, Shuichi!” Kaede lifted her hand from on top of Shuichi’s and placed it on his cheek, instead, wiping his tears away with her thumb. Shuichi blushed, but he put his hand over hers and pressed it more firmly against his cheek.

“Thanks, Kaede. I feel better already. I couldn’t do this without you.” He smiled again, the flow of tears slowing as he did.

“Of course, Shuichi. Don’t worry. I’ll make sure everything works out for you! I promise!” Kaede bounced up to her feet, clenching a fist in determination. She meant the promise. It was true Junko Enoshima couldn’t be reasoned with. Neither could Tsumugi Shirogane. But there was something else she could do. Something that both Junko and Tsumugi were very familiar with. Something Kaede didn’t think Shuichi would agree to, but something that had the best chance possible of working, and something she'd incidentally run across the supplies for a while back. Blackmail. 


	2. Only One Way

Tsumugi was just plain exhausted when she came into her house after school. She threw herself back on the couch with a sigh. Keeping Junko in power was a full time job and Tsumugi was responsible for so much of it. Her most important task was finding and organizing all the secrets that might be useful to Junko. Most of the job was boring; getting the interesting gossip involved wading through large amounts of uninteresting secrets that were of no use to anyone and ridiculous rumors which weren’t even plausibly true. Tsumugi supposed, though, that such a job suited someone like her. She, plain as she was, had an easy time slipping around the school unnoticed to gather the information, and it was her simple need for organization that made her useful enough at sorting through it and arranging it so that the interesting parts were plain to see. Exhausting as it may be to be the secret keeper, Tsumugi loved Junko. She would do anything it took to keep her happy. Anything at all.

Then there was the knock on her door. She tilted her head to the side. She rarely had visitors and she certainly hadn’t been expecting one right now. Tsumugi opened her door to find Kaede Akamatsu standing on the other side, a too-bright smile covering her face.

“Hey, Tsumugi,” Kaede began with false cheer “I hope I’m not bothering you, but I’d like to talk to you.” Tsumugi blinked. Had she ever done anything to make Kaede believe that they had this sort of friendship, or any sort of friendship at all for that matter? Tsumugi didn’t speak, leaving Kaede to stand awkwardly smiling in the doorway. What would Junko say about this? There were always aesthetics to be obeyed, which meant certain rules for who to hang out with, and Tsumugi was relatively sure that Kaede was not the sort of person she should be seen with. Then again, Kaede had already made it to her front door, so if anyone had seen, there may already be trouble, and whatever reason she had for showing up could end up be interesting enough to be worthwhile. At this point, there was likely no further harm in letting her in. Finally, she began again.

“Okay, Kaede. Come on in.” She smiled, stepping aside to let her into the house. Kaede stepped inside just slightly, allowing Tsumugi to close the door behind her. Kaede was tense, hand hovering out to the side, threatening to grab the doorknob. She looked as though she might bolt out of the room at any moment. With that attitude, Tsumugi was more intrigued than ever. What kind of business could she have that would make her act like that?

“To be honest,” Kaede sighed, “It’s about Shuichi. I heard you saw something at school today?”

“Ohhhhh,” Tsumugi nodded. “So this is about how Shuichi is that type of guy?” She gave a soft giggle. It had been interesting to walk in on the school’s resident “hero” and his “sidekick”. She’d never expected that Kaito Momota, as masculine as he was, would be spending his time making out with his sidekick, less yet doing so the janitor’s closet mid-school-day.

“I… well, yeah, you could say it like that, I guess. I don’t want you to… I just…” Kaede struggled to form a sentence, “Hey, Tsumugi, you’re really pretty you know?” Tsumugi’s eyes widened in shock. Where did that compliment come from?

“.... Are you trying to tell me you’re gay to distract me from your gay boyfriend?” She guessed, tilting her head to the side in confusion. Kaede laughed nervously, rubbing the straps of her backpack between her fingers.

“Oh, god, no. No, Tsumugi. I’m sorry. I’m just trying to be nice. Look, here’s what I’m thinking. Let’s be blunt here. I just don’t want you to tell Junko about this. I know you tell Junko everything, but it would mean a whole lot to me if you didn’t.”

“You think you can stop me telling Junko about Shuichi by… complimenting me?” The more Kaede spoke, the more confusing her intentions seemed to get.

“Well, no, but I just hoped this could be more pleasant if I let you know that I’d be nice to you, you know?”

“Ummm, no, actually. I think I’m going to just plain ignore this.” Tsumugi nodded, a tone of finality in her voice. Whatever was happening with Kaede, it only seemed to mean that she was acting bizarre. Thinking any more about it seemed like a waste of time to Tsumugi.

“No, Tsumugi, you can’t. Look, I don’t wanna do this, but I found this! You dropped it!” Kaede’s words rushed out of her mouth as quickly plunged her hand into her backpack and held out a small square of folded paper. She held it protectively, stepping back even closer the door as she showed it off. Tsumugi didn’t recognize it immediately. How was Kaede threatening her with folded paper? But then she saw the heart, and in it, in her own handwriting “Love, Tsumugi”. She didn't need to see the other side. She knew exactly what it said, and what that meant for her. Her note, the one to her step-brother. A confession of love.

Kaede placed her hand on the doorknob behind her as the color drained from Tsumugi's face.

“You're… blackmailing me!” Tsumugi's tone held only the hint of a question, but Kaede answered it anyway.

“Yeah.” She bit her lip. “Look, I'm sorry. I don't mean to be mean. I'm just... desperate. I found this weeks ago. I just didn't say anything before because I don't want to hurt you. I wanted to stay out of it. But now my friend is on the line. Please Tsumugi. Just don't say anything. We can handle this all in a friendly way. Maybe we can even be friends.”

“Friends? You wanna be friends with me after threatening to show Junko something like this? Do you know how mad she would be at me, Kaede?!” Tsumugi’s voice was uneven, wavering wildly between anger and fear. Kaede gritted her teeth. She hated this, every second of it. But she had to protect Shuichi.

“I'm sorry, Tsumugi. I really am sorry for blackmailing you. But see, that's what I'm talking about. Someone who is your friend shouldn't treat you like that. If you stopped passing information to Junko, you know, maybe you could be friends with someone who wouldn't be mad about something like that. I'd be your friend, Tsumugi.”

“A friend who wouldn’t judge that, huh?” Tsumugi’s tone softened and pointed a finger toward her cheek in thought.

Kaede breathed a small sigh of relief before continuing “Yeah. I’d be happy to be your friend instead. It’d be great. But you really don't have to do all that just so I keep this note to myself. All you have to do for that is leave Shuichi's secret for him to tell. We can leave everything else just the way it is, if you’d rather do it that way. I’ll just be some nobody who plays the piano to you, and you’ll have just one single secret from Junko on my behalf, and other than that, you keep your relationship with her just how it is. We don’t even have to talk again.”

Tsumugi was silent, looking toward the ceiling, her mouth downturned with concentration. Kaede bounced slightly in anticipation. She wasn’t a patient person and this wasn’t an easy situation to wait in, but Kaede knew she couldn’t risk speaking and upsetting things. Normally, Kaede might prompt her again and again to speak, but instead she just waited, feeling the seconds painfully dragging on, watching Tsumugi stare into space, ignoring her to think.

“Okay, Kaede. Your plan worked. I simply won’t breathe a word of this to Junko. I’ll think more about the friends thing.”

Kaede sighed, all the excess tension falling out of her in one long exhale.

“Sounds good. I’ll leave you to it then.” She smiled, but Tsumugi could see that she still kept her hand tightly curled around the note. Kaede wasn’t going to trust her without her leverage. That certainly made sense. Getting her to betray Junko, even in the smallest way, was a tall order.

Kaede, however, had the note. If she gave it to Junko, Tsumugi could imagine what she’d say, and in no case would it go well for her. Junko's control of the school relied heavily on appearances, on aesthetics. It was bad enough, as Junko regularly went out of her way to remind her, that Tsumugi liked things like anime and cosplay. For her to have had those feelings, then written them down, plain and sincere on the page, and then to have dropped the note in the school hallway instead of delivering it would show her an unacceptable level of carelessness. If she were to become the subject of gossip as a player in such a scandalous pseudo-incest plotline, it could be disastrous. Would Junko yell at her? Hit her? Abandon her?

Regardless of the answer, as long as Kaede had that note, Tsumugi knew that this situation could be handled in only one way.


	3. Make Sure

The next morning, Kaede explained to Shuichi that she’d gotten too nervous to wait. She apologized, but informed a very grateful Shuichi that she’d spoken with Tsumugi on her own, and Tsumugi had been far more helpful than expected. Then, for a few days, everything was quiet, everything normal in their routine. Until Friday, before the morning bell, when Shuichi and Kaede stood talking near the entrance to the school and Tsumugi approached them.

“Um…” She began nervously, gripping her upper arm with one hand and looking down at the ground away from them. “I’d like to talk to both of you, if that would be okay?”

Kaede blinked. Could it be that Tsumugi had thought about what she’d said about being friends? She was surprised that Tsumugi would say anything about it so soon after she’d made the offer, but she could hardly imagine what else it could be.

“Of course!” Kaede smiled brightly, taking Shuichi’s hand in a pre-emptive gesture of reassurance. He would worry just by virtue of being around Tsumugi. Though she was a little anxious herself about having the two of them in the same room, she wanted to keep him as comfortable as possible. Shuichi still looked a little anxious, but he intertwined his fingers with Kaede’s and allowed himself to be lead, following Tsumugi, into a classroom. It was empty but for one girl, sitting in a chair leaned far too far backwards to be safe, boots crossed on the table in front of her, twirling a small portion of one blonde pigtail between her fingers. Junko Enoshima. Kaede’s heart dropped into her stomach.

“This is what you made me wait for?” Junko’s voice was flat, nearly aggressive with its boredom.

“Oh!” Tsumugi jumped a bit “No! I mean, yes.” She shook her head. “I mean, I have some important things to tell you, Junko.”

Shuichi put his free hand over his mouth in an anxious sort of thought, still clinging to Kaede’s as if for dear life with the other. Kaede squeezed it. She wasn’t any less anxious than he was now, but she was stuck with silence as the only option, terrified that any one wrong statement could reveal something undesirable to either Shuichi or Junko. She still hadn’t figured out what Tsumugi could possibly be doing. Could this still be about her offer of friendship, even with Junko sitting right there in front of them?

That was honestly the only thing she could think of. It wouldn’t make sense for it to be anything else. If Tsumugi was planning to say anything about Shuichi to Junko, surely she wouldn’t go out of her way to make sure Kaede was in the room, not with Tsumugi’s note just waiting in Kaede’s backpack, ready to be shown to Junko at any moment. But, if that really was the case, Tsumugi had chosen to break it off with Junko in an uncharacteristically dramatic way. Kaede had never imagined that Tsumugi would want to stage any sort of confrontation, even if she did intend to take her up on her offer to abandon her friendship with Junko.

“The fuck is it?” Junko kicked off of the desk with the heel of her boot, nearly toppling herself backward, but swinging forward again at the last moment, throwing her feet to a more reasonable place on the ground as she did. She looked disappointed in this result somehow, but Kaede couldn’t see why.

“Okay,” Tsumugi began, “First, something about Kaede here.” Kaede froze in place, paralyzed with anticipation.

“Okay. What?” Junko put her elbow on the table and rested her cheek against her palm, staring expectantly at Tsumugi.

“I thought you’d like to know that Kaede here is blackmailing me.”

“Blackmail?!” Shuichi yelled, turning to Kaede who blushed, pulling her hand away from his to cover her quickly reddening face. “Is that true Kaede?”

“I’m sorry, Shuichi.” Kaede responded in lieu of an answer. She gave brief thought to turning her attention to Tsumugi to follow through on the very threat she was talking about, but she had a sinking feeling that that wasn’t going to do anything to help matters. How could it when this whole situation was orchestrated by Tsumugi herself? She didn’t know what Tsumugi could possibly be thinking. Avoiding looking at Shuichi, she trained her eyes on the cracks between the floor tiles instead and waited for things to clear themselves up.

“Okay, that’s not the most boring thing I’ve ever heard,” Junko deadpanned before opening her eyes wide and batting her eyelashes, continuing in an overly cute tone “So tell me more Tsumugi-chaaan!” Tsumugi went weak in the knees, red in the face, nearly falling in Junko’s direction before remembering herself.

“Right,” She closed her eyes and shook her head to clear the image of Junko’s cutesy face from her mind, “Kaede doesn’t want me to tell you Shuichi is gay.”

As if afraid the words themselves would hurt him if he didn’t, Shuichi reached frantically back out for Kaede’s hand. She looked over at him in disbelief. It seemed, regardless of the plan she’d set in motion behind his back, he was still seeking comfort in her. She wouldn’t deny him. She absolutely couldn’t. How he could still be considering them friends after this, during this, even, was beyond her, but she absolutely wouldn’t reject an overture from him, not even for her own feelings of inadequacy. Shuichi squeezed Kaede’s hand tightly in his and she ran her thumb over the back of his hand in an attempt at comfort. They stood hand in hand, reaching a silent agreement to do nothing more than watch the situation unfold in front of them.

Tsumugi took a deep breath. She’d lead with the parts that were easier to say, in large part so she couldn’t back out, but now how was she supposed to tell Junko the parts she didn’t want to voice? The parts that would make her angry? Tsumugi tried her best to form the words quickly. She often struggled to make conversation, and working up the power of speech to explain something she very much didn’t want to say might be too much for her. But Junko wasn’t patient.

“So, this kid’s gay, and this one tried blackmailing you to not tell me,” Junko pointed at Shuichi and Kaede in turn. She pulled herself up to her full height in her chair and rested her fists against her hips. “So what, do tell us, love, are the details of this blackmailing plot?” If Junko was prompting her, there wasn’t any more room to consider her words. Tsumugi simply needed to confess.

“I wrote a note. A love note. A love note for my step-brother.” The words fell from her lips in a rush. “And then I dropped it. I dropped it in the hallway, and Kaede picked it up.”

“You wrote what?! And you fucking dropped it?!?!” Junko stood up, kicking her chair backwards to the floor and slamming her fists on the table in front of her. “How the actual fuck could you drop something like that?! Do you realize how big of a deal this is?!”

Tsumugi looked at the floor. Junko was right. This sort of scandal could and should mean that Junko dropped their friendship immediately. It wasn’t exactly appropriate for the most popular girl in school to hang out with a freak who loved her step-brother. Tsumugi was already on thin ice with her hobbies. Adding something like this could shake the foundation of the social hierarchy that Junko sat at the top of enough that if she didn’t do anything about it, the whole thing might topple. It was a big deal.

Junko stepped over to her. Standing just in front of Tsumugi, she looked too small. Even if it was just a few short inches of height Tsumugi had on her, even if it was just in a physical sense, it still didn’t feel right to look down on her. Automatically, Tsumugi dropped to her knees.

“I’m sorry!” Tsumugi wailed out, unable to suppress a series of high pitched whimpers from escaping her lips as tears started to fall from her eyes. Junko silently looked down at her for a long moment. When she didn’t say anything, Tsumugi looked up at her, tears now streaming down her red face. Junko was as angry as she’d expected, that was clear in her face, but behind Junko’s fake blue eyes, Tsumugi could practically see the analytical gears turning. Junko was considering something, and considering it carefully. The extended eye contact seemed to burn Tsumugi’s face with the heat her own blush, but she made no move to break it, waiting until Junko’s eyes snapped to Kaede.

“Kaede,” She began, her tone declarative, “Do show us that note, hm? We would like to confirm that she really wrote it.” Kaede looked at Shuichi for permission, though she wasn’t sure why. However, he helpfully nodded his agreement and she slid her free hand behind her and into the pocket of her backpack. Even without looking, her fingers wrapped easily around it; she’d been so hyper aware of the position of the note at every moment leading up to now that it was practically burning a hole in her back. She held it out to Junko.

“Sank you!”Junko winked, blew a kiss, and then snatched it out of her hand, stepping back away from her to stand in front of the still kneeling Tsumugi before unfolding the note. With Junko towering over her to read the love letter, Tsumugi tilted her head forward, blue curls falling down to obscure the tears dripping off of her cheeks and soaking down into the fabric of her skirt. This was hard to watch, Kaede thought. And the worst part of it all was that she’d brought this on herself. She was the one who’d been willing to threaten Tsumugi with this. When Tsumugi broke her promise, she was punished with this reveal, just as Kaede had planned, but seeing Tsumugi kneeling, doubled over on the floor, crying desperately at the feet of the one person everyone knew she cared about most, there was no satisfaction in it. Only horror at the pain and misery she was willing to cause. Tears began to fall silently down her cheeks. How could she have done this? Shuichi stepped closer to her, squeezing her hand tightly. His eyes, glued to Tsumugi, held the same horror as Kaede’s, but his mouth was set with determination.

“How can you be such a freak?! Do you think I could really put up with someone like this?” Junko laughed cruelly when she finished reading the note, refolding it quickly before placing it in the front pocket of her shirt. She then reached down, placing her palm under Tsumugi’s chin, gripping her cheeks with long red nails. Tsumugi knew that her face must be a mess. It was blood red, her unhinged fear was obvious in her eyes, her nose was running, and her lower lip was trembling, but there was nothing she could do to control her crying. Junko then pulled Tsumugi’s face up in her direction an implicit order to look into her eyes evident in the gesture. Tsumugi obeyed. In Junko’s eyes, Tsumugi could no longer see anger, but instead she could read an anticipation, a happiness that her heart jumped at causing. A smile covered her face just before the back of Junko’s free hand struck her, hard, across her cheek. Tsumugi didn’t stop smiling.

Kaede gasped, stepping forward and starting to object, but Shuichi boldly covered her mouth with his hand, sharply shaking his head no. Any objection Kaede had died on her tongue as he pulled her back through the classroom door, looking directly at Junko just before he did. Junko nodded in their direction, a soft dismissal, permission to leave.

“I’m sorry.” Tsumugi said quietly once they were gone, wet face still tilted forward and dripping into her lap. “I really shouldn’t have been so careless.”

“No,” Junko agreed, stepping back and pulling herself up to sit on the table behind her. “You shouldn’t have. Do you know what this note could do?” She pulled Tsumugi’s note back from her pocket, holding it between her middle and forefinger down in front of Tsumugi's teary eyes.

“Yes, Junko.” Tsumugi’s relief showed in her tone. Junko was mad at her. Mad enough to hit her, and in front of people at that. But, more than that, she was happy. Tsumugi could hear it in her voice. To see the despair on Kaede and Shuichi’s faces, to watch the horror and fear turn to despairing resignation had brought her the kind of joy that only despair could. More importantly for Tsumugi, she realized that to hit her, to hurt her, had caused Junko the despair she craved.

To hit Tsumugi had caused Junko despair. Hitting her caused Junko despair. Tsumugi felt like she was floating. To be loved this much was beyond anything she could imagine. She wiped her face clean with her sleeves and looked up, but remained on her knees, waiting for permission to stand.

“Well, no matter,” Junko admitted, smiling as she unfolded the note and ripped it neatly in half, then doubled it over to tear it again. She kept tearing and tearing until there was nothing left of Tsumugi’s note but shreds. “Crisis averted. No one else will ever see.”

“Junko…” Tsumugi’s eyes, so recently dry, filled with tears once again, this time of joy. “Thank you.”

“Don’t get the wrong idea. I’d drop you in a second if this got out. But you’re useful. I’d prefer, well, not to.”

“I understand.” She nodded. Obviously, it made sense. Someone like her was blessed to even be in the presence of Junko Enoshima.

“Out him sometime today,” Junko laughed. “And you can stand up now. Come over here.”

“Of course,” Tsumugi obeyed automatically, picking herself up, dusting off her long black skirt and settling it into place, then stepping in Junko's direction. She nearly fainted when Junko’s hands wound their way around the back of her neck and pulled Tsumugi’s head to rest on her shoulder.

“Don’t do anything stupid like that again, Tsumugi. I need you to make sure I’ll always have you.”


	4. I'll Always Have You

Kaede and Shuichi skipped out on their morning classes, instead sneaking home to spend their time at Shuichi’s house. There, Kaede sobbed desperately into Shuichi’s chest while he held her somewhat awkwardly in his arms.

“Oh, god Shuichi, I’m so sorry. I’m sorry. I only wanted to protect you.” Kaede sobbed. “How could I do something so terrible?”

Shuichi smiled sadly, beginning softly, “It’s okay, Kaede. You already answered your own question. You did it to protect me.”

“But I didn’t protect you!!” She wailed, gripping the back of his shirt tightly in her hands. “I didn’t protect you! All I did was go behind your back and blackmail someone!! It didn’t even work to protect you!! I’m a terrible person!”

Shuichi shook his head no. He worked his hand into the back of her blonde hair and combed through it with his fingers.

“That’s not true, Kaede. You may have resorted to one bad thing, but you were trying so hard to take care of me.” He spoke as gently as possible, hoping to soothe her with tone alone.

“But you should hate me! I hurt you! I made things so much worse for you!”

“No, you took a risk to protect me. And I appreciate it. Even if it didn’t work out.”

“Didn’t work out??” Kaede laughed through her tears “That’s an understatement. I ruined a friendship, Shuichi. And I did it for no reason.”

“Oh, about that, don’t worry.”

Kaede pulled her head back from his chest, wiping her tears away and looking at his face before speaking.

“What do you mean ‘don’t worry’?” She asked.

“I mean you didn’t ruin their friendship.” Shuichi hesitated a bit. “That is, if I’m correct.”

Kaede’s first thought was for whether he witnessed the same scene as she had. Had he not seen Tsumugi crumple to her knees in front of Junko, Junko rage at her over her feelings and then smack her right on her crying face? But she wouldn’t say such a thing to Shuichi. He was far too sensitive, and if there was anything to his theory, he wouldn’t open his mouth about it again if she dismissed it outright. Instead she kept her objections to herself to ask for clarification.

“What do you mean?” She asked quietly.

“I mean, I know what it looked like, but Kaede, I don’t think Junko cares about whether Tsumugi likes her step-brother or not.” Kaede blinked in place of a response this time.

“Sorry, Kaede. I could be wrong, but I think what Junko cares about is whether other people know she doesn’t care. Listen, did you hear what she said when she very first found out? Something along the lines of ‘You wrote what? And then you dropped the note?’. She didn’t mention anything all about the feelings. Not until after Tsumugi was on her knees. She was quiet for a long time when that first happened. I think she was thinking it through then, how to present the situation to us.”

“How to… present the situation?” Kaede was following along. He was right that what Junko had said was suspicious, but what conclusion had Shuichi reached?

“Yeah, and the next thing she did was ask you for the note. She was eager to get it away from you. Too eager, I think. It’s like, Tsumugi had already confessed how she felt, and that it was her note that you had. Why would she be so attached to getting to a note that would only confirm something that Tsumugi herself never contested? Giving it to her just played right into her plan. Junko didn’t care what she read in the note, at all. And you saw how readily she let us out of the room after that, too. I made sure to look at her for permission to leave. Kaede, she doesn’t care one bit about what’s in that note. She was mad at Tsumugi for dropping it, but the reason she needed it away from you so badly is that if you kept it, you could’ve shown it to someone else.”

“But Tsumugi loves Junko, she’s obsessed with her. The reason I threatened her with telling Junko is because she’s judgemental about stuff like that. So why would either of them care if anyone else found out?”

“Because I don’t think she’s actually judgemental. She just wants control of the school’s social system. And if that love letter were to get around, she would be judged very harshly if she didn’t ostracize Tsumugi. She wanted us convinced that the worst thing that could happen to Tsumugi would be for Junko to find out, that way we would think that the note had lost its value already and give it up easily, because the worst had already happened. Some of the.... Um, let’s say more disturbing bits of that 'scene' were probably also to keep us from being able to think too hard about it too.”

Kaede thought through everything he’d said. It did make sense Junko was awfully quick to take the note away from her, and she had been really focused on dropping the note when she first found out. In a way it was reassuring. Maybe Junko really didn’t care. On the other hand, had she really played right into her plan?

“You really think that was it?”

“I’m almost sure of it. Watch them tomorrow, though. If I’m right, nothing will have changed between them.”

“But, wait, won’t they at least pretend that their relationship is different, like, strained by this, even?”

“No, they won’t bother. For one thing, they think we’ll be avoiding them out of discomfort, that we won’t want to spend much time looking at them because of how disturbing what we saw was. But also, it doesn’t matter to Junko anymore. Because even if we know her whole plan, what could we even do about it? We could still tell people Tsumugi’s secret, but we have no proof anymore. It’d be hearsay, and who would listen to us? We have no social capital. It’s baseless rumor at that point.”

“So we played right into her plan that whole time and never even knew until now?!” Kaede couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Throughout this whole thing, every part of how they were feeling was actually exactly what Junko had planned? The horror and the guilt, her relinquishment of the note, and all the hollow feelings about following through on the blackmail that had lead up to it? Even her relief to be out of the room was all part of Junko’s plan?

“Well,” Shuichi admitted “No. I knew, or, well, I had a hunch since just before she asked you for the note, but I thought it was what you would want to play in. That’s why I told you to give her the note, and that’s why we left when we did. You felt so bad. I guessed that you wouldn’t want to hurt Tsumugi any more than you already had. I’m sorry I couldn’t ask you about it, but I thought the best option would be to make it seem like she’d tricked us.”

“But Shuichi… she is gonna be responsible for everyone knowing that you’re gay. Why would you give up our leverage, just like that, knowing it was still useful?”

“Well, I think Junko wants to keep Tsumugi as her friend, but I don’t know if she wants it enough to bargain with us for it. She might just let us have it. At that point, it would only only useful for revenge. I don’t want revenge, Kaede. I don’t want everyone to know, but making Junko cut off Tsumugi isn’t going to help that. And besides, I’m making peace with the idea of being out.”

“Shuichi…”

“Even if it’s a miserable disaster, even if it’s a huge mess, well, it’ll be okay, won’t it? I’ll always have you.” 


End file.
